was a navy corpsman, and my experience is that e7, e8, e9 ratings, chief petty officer to master chief, those ratings tend to run the outfit that i have been involved in. we have had officers who have come aboard our ship, junior officers, and the chiefs were the ones who kind of took them in hand and showed them the ropes about how to operate. i think having an enlisted man with that kind of experience will be helpful as far as the defense department is concerned. he will know what the enlisted man is facing on the ground. that is all i have to say right now. host: in fact, here is a picture of chuck hagel in vietnam in 1968. this is in the "financial times" this morning. "hagel nomination debate revise vietnam coasts." "with the election of mr. obama, who was 14 when the war ended, the u.s. appeared to have escaped the deficit legacy of vietnam that clouded politics for generations. if mr. hagel is confirmed, the three most prominent figures apart from the president in the countries foreign policy debates -- mr. kerry in the state department, mr. hagel at the pentagon, and mr. mccain, will
